Las Vegas Sands Doesn’t Deliver on High Expectations

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) reported second-quarter results after markets closed Wednesday. The casino and resort operator posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.85 on revenues of $3.62 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.65 on revenues of $3.24 billion. Second-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.90 and $3.8 billion in revenues.

Higher operating income was driven by Sands’ Macao operations. In fact, Macao gets the credit for well over two-thirds of the company’s revenues. Las Vegas operations contributed slightly less than 10% to total revenues in the second quarter.

The Sands did not offer guidance, but the consensus estimates call for third quarter EPS of $0.95 on revenues of $3.95 billion. For the full year analysts estimate EPS of $3.88 on revenues of $16.02 billion.

The company’s CEO said:

We are driving our strong financial performance through the focused and consistent execution of our global growth strategy, which continues to harness the power of our convention-based Integrated Resort business model. We are confident that the continued execution of this strategy will extend our position as the global leader in Integrated Resort development and operation. … We remain confident that our market-leading Cotai Strip properties, which will be complemented by the Parisian Macao, which is targeted to open in late 2015, will meaningfully enhance the appeal of Macao to business and leisure travelers and provide an outstanding platform for growth in the years ahead.

Shares are up about 35% in the past 12 months, but down nearly 7% year to date. Since posting the 52-week high in early March, shares are down more than 15%. Today’s clear miss won’t help the stock, but it is worth noting that the consensus EPS estimate was unchanged from three months ago. The bar was set high, and the company couldn’t make the jump.

Shares were down nearly 2% in after-hours trading, at $72.46, in a 52-week range of $52.90 to $88.28. The consensus target price for the shares was around $89.25 before the report.